The Salmon Festival, Columbia River 1888

Thomas Hill captured a scene from ‘The Salmon Festival, Columbia River’ using oil on canvas. Here, boats are laden with people, bringing to mind Charon’s vessel ferrying souls across the River Styx. In antiquity, the river symbolized a boundary, a point of transition between life and death. Observe the mountains in the background – their imposing presence echoes the immutable and eternal nature of the natural world, contrasted against the ephemeral activities of the figures in the boats. Mountains have long been seen as a spiritual and physical challenge, places of reflection and transformation. This is reminiscent of Caspar David Friedrich’s ‘Wanderer above the Sea of Fog’, where the figure atop the mountain is in communion with nature, understanding the sublime. Notice how rituals are depicted as a continuous thread, linking past and present. This scene encourages us to reflect on our place within the grand tapestry of life, death, and the eternal rhythms of nature, ever-present and profoundly felt.